The White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) is the only stiff-tail (Oxyurini) indigenous to the Palearctic. The White-headed duck is a diving duck - one of several species in the family of stiff-tailed diving ducks - and he uses his stiff tail to propel himself down into the water to feed. It can dive more than 30 feet (10 metres) and he feeds on seeds and insect larvae. It is a migratory bird and lives on lakes and ponds in warm areas during the winter. It has a gland in his nose that can extract salt, so he can live in saline lakes - from Southern Europe and North Africa all the way across to Central Asia. The White-headed Duck lives over a broad range that spans the Eurasian continent from Mongolia, Russia, and India in the east to Algeria and Spain in the west. They also live on the African continent.
